


The Great Baking Ordeal

by GlassMenagerie



Series: Lion and the Lamb [1]
Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, It's just soft nonsense honestly, This has OG Mary though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-05 20:09:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17331548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlassMenagerie/pseuds/GlassMenagerie
Summary: She wasn’t sure when it started, but slowly Mary had made herself part of Zelda’s weekly happenings, bringing something she thought Zelda could enjoy and having a short chat with her before going on her way. Of course Zelda being herself, she found it dreadfully annoying to entertain a mortal regularly outside of her occupation.





	The Great Baking Ordeal

**Author's Note:**

> Have y'all ever thought about actual Mary Wardwell and Zelda as a possibility? Probably not, but Sarah and I did so here's a soft thing in which Mary tries to get Zelda's attention through non stop pastries.

It was nearly every Saturday that Mary Wardwell showed up to the Spellman mortuary, various baked goods in hand. She wasn’t sure when it started, but slowly Mary had made herself part of Zelda’s weekly happenings, bringing something she thought Zelda could enjoy and having a short chat with her before going on her way. Of course Zelda being herself, she found it dreadfully annoying to entertain a mortal regularly outside of her occupation. She didn’t understand why it always had to be during a time where she found herself alone; it was like someone told the woman the one time of day she was usually by herself and magically she appearing. She’d never had much of a relationship with the teacher besides hearing Sabrina mention her or seeing her about town and her house wasn’t just a walk away from what she understood so why Mary chose to come every week to grace their house with food seemed to be a waste of her time and energy, but it was harmless so Zelda allowed it to continue. Besides, she supposed it was nice to have company once in a while. 

One particular Saturday, Zelda was already in a foul mood, but Mary was at her door all smiles and softness like clockwork and she was irrationally irritated by it. How a human could be so naive to never be visibly upset was a mystery to Zelda, but here they were. “Ah Ms. Wardwell, back again, I see.” Reluctantly, Zelda let her in, if only for the sake of consistency.

Mary only laughed as she stepped over the threshold, shrugging off her coat. “I do have a first name, you know. It’s really only my students who address me formally.” She knew her way to the kitchen by now and didn’t hesitate to wander down the halls towards it, knowing Zelda would inevitably follow after. 

“And you know you don't have to be here all the time and yet...” Mary had long since gotten used to Zelda's snide remarks, but she let them be, knowing that was just part of her charm. Some were more blunt than others, but Mary had grown to the point where she can let them slide by without a retort. Placing her modest pile of this week's chocolate chip cookies on the kitchen table, Mary took a seat and anxiously watched Zelda's hand hover over the cloth-covered basket before taking one out and eating it. She already knew she was a good baker, but even small validation from Zelda made her day brighter. “How are they?”

Zelda placed the cookie atop the cloth, raising an eyebrow at the other woman. “They’re just as good as everything else you bring us. I’m sure you know that.” She tapped her fingernails on the counter absentmindedly as Mary began to go on about how she’d made them and whatever small thing she’d done differently compared to past times and something inside Zelda just wanted to break her demeanor. Maybe it was her bad mood or just natural curiosity, but she decided that she was going to see how much Mary could take from her. “Ms. Wardwell, why exactly do you come here every Saturday?”

The brunette fell silent, wondering how truthful she should be with her answer. “Because I bake on Saturday and I always have extra so the polite thing to do is usually share them, of course.”

“Yes, but don’t you have neighbors closer to you that would save you a drive?” 

“No, I don’t have neighbors, actually.” She was pretty sure she’d mentioned to Zelda where she lived and how isolated it was, but something about the way Zelda was speaking put her on edge. 

Zelda smirked, watching the other woman shift uncomfortably in her chair. Slowly but surely, it was working. “But don’t you have friends?”

“I thought we were friends…” Mary muttered, fiddling with her hands. And that made Zelda think -really, truly think- because were they friends? She figured that they’d been doing what friends do, spending time together and discussing different things. Zelda didn’t find it too painful to speak with her which was technically a quality of good friendship. She was overall a nice, sweet person, fairly cute. But she was in too deep now. She didn’t have time to analyze her feelings because she’d started this stupid mission to make her feel bad. It was probably for the best anyway. 

“Well you were mistaken.” Zelda scoffed, turning away from her because she wasn’t sure she could face Mary anymore. “It's not my job to entertain you just because you don't have any friends.”

That was mean even for Zelda and they both knew it. Mary attempted to speak up immediately, but her voice cracked and she was forced to try again. “That was completely uncalled for and rude.” In fact the more she thought about it, the redhead had been nothing but rude to her they're entire knowing one another. Anger rose within her, something not too often seen. “Maybe I come over here every week because you don't have any friends either, but at least I'm still a nice person.” Zelda spun around, ready to make a sharp retort but stopped when she saw the hurt look on Mary's face. She’d put that look on her face and Zelda immediately regretted it; she already preferred her incessant smiling.

“Listen-” She started, but she was cut off by an insistent, oddly stern voice.

“No  _ you _ listen. I am tired of your insensitivity and I won't deal with it anymore.” The brunette stood grabbing her purse and holding it close. “I don't know what I ever saw in you, Zelda Spellman, but I was mistaken. If you want to be by yourself then so be it. I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to.” She choked back a sob, not wanting to be overwhelmed by her emotions in front of the ever stoic woman across from her. Instead she just stormed for the door and let herself out, wiping the tears away from her eyes until she reached the privacy of her car.

Seeing Mary run off like that made Zelda feel something. Not the normal smug feeling she got when getting an annoyance out of her life, no, she felt… bad, like she had done something wrong. Mary’s reaction tugged at her heart, something she hadn’t felt in a while and she was forced to think about her true feelings for the woman. She contemplated going after her, but Ms Wardwell had survived a host of insults from Zelda in the past and she was fine. She had been rude, but surely this would just be like every other time.

When the following week came though, and there was no knock on her door all day, Zelda felt incomplete. She'd been waiting to see the woman, anxiously tapping her foot against her chair as the hours passed by. Once Hilda left for work that morning, she didn’t have anyone else to talk to and she found that even in a house full of baked goods from her sister, she missed the ones from Mary. Maybe she did put something special in them. Eventually dinnertime came and Zelda took the opportunity to prod her niece for information, hopefully subtly. “Sabrina, has Ms. Wardwell been ill this week?”

The blonde looked up from her plate and shook her head in confusion. “No, auntie, she looked fine and she didn't say anything. Is something wrong?” Everyone that happened to catch the two together could see enjoyed each other’s company, Sabrina included. She saw them separately more often than not, of course, but when she walked past the kitchen and watched them talk, they both seemed… happier.

“She didn't come to see me today.” Zelda fussed with the edge of the table, wondering why she hadn't seen her. This was bad; she really fucked up. “I just thought she might be sick, but…” Zelda trailed off, leaving Sabrina and Hilda to ponder what was going on.

“Now that you mention it, usually Ms Wardwell asks about you, but I don't think she has this week.” Sabrina thought about it a moment more before turning to her aunt with a stern look. “What did you do?” Her aunt was notorious for bruising someone’s ego just to deflect her own emotions and she wouldn’t put it past her to do just that to Ms Wardwell considering how they’d been talking lately.

Zelda only huffed, crossing her arms in defiance. “ _ Maybe _ I was a bit harsh with her last time I saw her.” She remembered the look on Mary's face and knew it'd been more than a little harsh if it made Mary cry. 

“Did you say something to her?” Her niece had always been fond of Ms. Wardwell, but Zelda had never seen her this protective of her. It was nice really, how she cared so fiercely for others. 

“I may have implied that her presence every week here wasn't welcomed and that she was on there because she didn't have friends… and that we weren’t friends either.” Zelda braced herself for the onslaught of 'why are you so rude’ comments from her family, waiting for their protests to subside before speaking up again. “I realize now that I shouldn't have said it and I suppose I do regret it, but I didn't think she'd be this upset.” She sighed, coming to terms with how much she actually missed Mary's smile and their conversations. “I'm no good at fixing things like this.”

Finally Hilda piped up, bright ideas in hand as always. “Considering she does have a bit of a crush on you, I think you should start with apologizing.” 

“Yes, I know I have to apologize-” The first part of her sister's statement sunk in. “What do you mean, a crush?” 

“She likes you, sis. It's pretty obvious, to be honest. Anyone can see you like each other and I told her to tell you, but she refused.” Hilda gave Zelda a sad smile, shrugging. “I'm guessing she was just a twinge embarrassed about it, but really, why else would someone bring you things once a week just to talk to you unless they fancied you?” 

Zelda was truly shocked. She always prided herself on being observant, but it never crossed her mind that the school teacher had an interest in her. “Right well, I didn't know and she should've been clearer.” She reasoned, not wanting to be at fault for all of this even though she truly knew she was. “I still don't know what to do about it.”

“Bake her something!” Sabrina suggested cheerfully, look far too excited. “Bake her favorite thing and bring it to her because she's probably not going to come over here again unless she knows you don't hate her. I don't know her favorite dessert though...”

“I don't hate her!” Actually it was far from hate. Zelda quite liked Mary and did enjoy speaking to her. She was knowledgeable for a mortal and not completely incompetent. Even in seeing the various odd things in the Spellman home, Mary had never shied away. Actually she’d been quite intrigued to learn about the antiques which, of course, Zelda loved to go on about. “And her favorite is cherry pie. Honestly Sabrina, you claim she's your favorite teacher.”

Hilda and Sabrina said nothing, instead just exchanging a knowing smile. Zelda may pretend not to care, but somehow she remembered a comment mentioned in passing months ago.

The next day, Zelda spent hours trying to perfect a cherry pie. Hilda offered to help, but Zelda insisted that she could manage on her own. Truthfully, she was an awful baker, but after five pies Zelda could safely say she'd done an acceptable job on this attempt. She just hoped it tasted alright. Wrapping it up carefully and setting it in the passenger seat, she hopped in her car and slowly made her way to the the secluded cottage in the woods. She had no idea what she would say to the woman, but she was going to try her darndest to be kind, even if it killed her. Mary deserved that, at least. With the changing seasons, it was already dark out when Zelda arrived, but she could see a light in the front window and knew Mary was still awake. 

In all their time together, she'd never actually visited Mary's home and in knocking on the door, it occurred to Zelda that she had no idea how Mary would react to her coming over. She could still be furious and slam the door in her face or worse, she might cry again. Zelda wasn’t sure she could withstand that again. When the door opened though, there was neither. Mary just stared at her as if she'd see a ghost. It was clear the school teacher wasn’t going to say anything first, Zelda spoke up. “I brought cherry pie.” Zelda held out the tin to Mary, hoping she would take it. “Do I have to stand here all night or are you going to let me in? It's freezing and I'm trying to be nice here.”

Mary didn't take the pie from Zelda, but she did back up to let her inside, if only to keep the heat in the house. “I'm surprised to see you, Zelda.” She stepped away and walked into the nearby living room, Zelda following quickly behind. She could tell by the lack of warm greeting that she'd royally messed up. Mary embodied the term of killing someone with kindness so to see her giving the cold shoulder definitely got the message through to Zelda. “I didn't think you'd be looking to see me again considering I'm such an annoyance.” 

Zelda placed her peace offering on the side table before sitting down next to Mary on her couch, much closer than usual. Despite being so close to one another, Mary refused to look directly at Zelda, preferring instead to stare aimlessly at the opposite wall. “Look, I think I was unfair to you the other day.” 

“You think?” The brunette bit back, pouting a little in spite of herself. She’d spent all week moping about, not at work of course, but when she got home she felt misery creep its way back in. Zelda’s words had hit deeper than she wanted them to and even as she tried to get them out of her head, she couldn’t.

“No, I know.” When Mary still didn't look at her, Zelda reached out to take her hand and hold it in her own. “I shouldn't have said what I did and I'm sorry for being so dismissive of your kind gestures, you didn't deserve that.” But still she received no response; this was getting frustrating. “Please, Mary, I am trying. I know you don’t have to accept my apology or have anything more to do with me. I took advantage of you and that was wrong. I was hurtful just for the sake of it and I’ll never forgive myself.” Her apology was genuine; she truly hadn’t meant to hurt her so much. She shouldn’t have done it at all.

Finally the other woman met her gaze, her expression neutral. “Oh I have a first name now?” She was rightfully pissed off, Zelda had gone too far, but she was here to apologize which she had to admit, she didn't think she'd ever see. “Never do that to me again or I really won't accept your apology. I do have limits, Zelda. You really liked my company?” 

“Yes I did.” Zelda instantly felt relief wash over her, tension she hadn't realized she was holding in subsiding. “I won't, but really if you'd made your true intentions known earlier, maybe I would have understood.” At that, Mary sunk into her chair and tried to pull away completely, but Zelda still had hold of her hand. 

She knew Hilda was going to slip up and tell her one day, she just knew it, but why’d it have to be now. “I don't know what you're talking about.” Maybe if she denied it, Zelda would let it go.

“Sure you don't.” Zelda shook her head, poking Mary in the side and making her yelp. “Why didn't you tell me you had some sort of interest in me?”

Mary's cheeks colored more than she would like and she threw her free arm across her face to try and hide it from view. “Why  _ would  _ I? Think I want to be ridiculed by you more so you can poke fun at me?” Is that how Mary saw her? Two steps from ridicule at all times? 

“Well I…” She couldn't blame her; under normal circumstances, Zelda would most definitely laugh someone off and go about her day. But Mary Wardwell wasn't a normal circumstance and after having a while to think about it did like the woman. “I hope you think better of me than to do that. I can't say your feelings aren't returned, but I've never truly thought about them in depth before.” A bright blue eye peeked out from under her arm to look at Zelda, but even seeing her sincerity, she didn't know what to say. In her head, Mary thought she could maybe live just finding reasons to see Zelda for the rest of her life without addressing her feelings, but she did know that was a bit ridiculous. “I haven't been the best with relationships in the past and I think we both know I have a tendency to perturb others without thinking.”

Nevertheless, her secret was out and she was positively mortified. “If you're going to turn me down, please get on with it.” Zelda couldn't be too repulsed by the idea if she was here bringing it up so casually, but truly people like her didn't date the Zeldas of the world. It was quite rare that she ever got close enough to someone to develop feelings for them, but when she did she rarely shared them for exactly this reason.

Zelda stared down at the embarrassed woman for a few moments, wondering how to go about this. If only Hilda was here to do the emotional part for her, she's so much better at that. For what she couldn't bring herself to say in words, she decided to make up for in action. Leaning over to cup Mary's face in her hands, she lifted her head to the perfect angle for their lips to meet, bringing them together in a sweet kiss Zelda hoped conveyed how she felt. “I’ve apologized, I'm not turning you down, and you've now received both a pie and a kiss from me.” She pushed Mary's arm away, revealing an uncertain expression. “I think you've won tonight, dear.”

The woman sat frozen in place, stunned. When she thought about it, Zelda was right. Never in a million years would she have thought Zelda would show up to apologize, much less accept her feelings for her and sort of admit to returned feelings. If she was dreaming, she was going to let it continue for now. Mary nodded as she slowly sat up, her cheeks still pink from their kiss. She thought about discussing it further, but decided against it. Zelda had done a lot today and she did have questions, but there was always tomorrow. Her eyes darted to the pie tin on the table near them, staring at it cautiously. “What kind of pie is it?”

“Cherry pie,” Zelda gave a knowing smile as she watched Mary's eyes light up. She might bake more often just for that look on her face.

“How did you know cherry was my favorite?” But then her brow furrowed, “It's not cherry season, how did you make this?”

“I do listen when you speak most of the time and don't worry about where I got the cherries from, they're there in that pie now and that’s all you need to know.” Had Zelda summoned cherries specifically for this pie? Perhaps, but Mary was never going to figure that out and, while she did eye Zelda skeptically, she pulled the pastry into her lap and dug her finger in. “Is ruining my perfect pie part of my penance?”

Ms Wardwell only chuckled and brought pie-covered fingers to her lips. “I figured if you were going to poison me with pie, I might as well have fun with it.” How dare she, Zelda would never poison food that way. That was more of Hilda's thing usually. “It's good actually, thank you. I was missing my weekly sweets since I didn't make anything today.”

“But you bake every week…” Zelda was sure it had been months of Mary bearing baked goods at the door of the Spellman home, but her comment was met with rolled eyes and a gentle shove.

“Yes, I bake every week  _ for you _ . I didn't plan on seeing you so, nothing.” She really had been going out of her way just for Zelda; it was impressive really. Mary bit her lip nervously, wanting to ask Zelda a question, but not wanting to intrude again. “Can I come over next Saturday? I’ll bake whatever you want.”

“Why is this a question- Mary, yes, you can visit next Saturday and you don’t have to bake anything if you don’t want to. You don’t need an excuse.” Although given their new development… “I suppose now you can be over any day you wish.” Seeing her once a week had been nice, but Zelda did enjoy their time together and it wouldn't be bad knowing she could see her anytime. 

Mary's smile grew in hearing her extended invitation and Zelda couldn't help but crack a smile of her own. “Aww someone misses me.” She hesitated for a second before surging forward to entrap Zelda in a more forceful kiss than originally intended. “Sorry,” she mumbled as she pulled away, adjusting her glasses.

“It's alright, you taste like cherries.” Zelda laughed as she pulled the pie away from Mary before she could ruin it anymore. As cute as it was, she didn't want to see her hard work mangled before her eyes. 

“I wonder why!” Before Mary could continue further, she was pulled in for another spontaneous kiss- deliberately forceful this time. Zelda proclaimed she was bad at relationships, but if she continued to kiss like this? Mary was sure she could manage.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a few more ideas for them so I'm making this a series so I can add to it when I get around to it. Thanks for reading and make sure to comment or whatever. Feel free to follow me on Twitter and Tumblr (softlilith), come talk to me about headcanons because I have way too many <3


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